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UBIMflV 
OF  1 iF 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
*£  AUU1913 


ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  AT  THE 

American  Federation  of  Labor  Convention, 

AT  PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  1892. 


Hon.  HENRY  W.  BLAIR, 

Ex'U.  S.  Senator  and  Present  Congressman. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 


AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  EABOR, 
14  Clinton  Place,  New  York  City, 


2 


V 

KDDRESS 

DELIVERED  AT  THE 

American  Federation  of  Labor  Convention, 

At  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1892, 

By  Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair,  Ex.  0.  S.  Senator  and  Present  Congressman. 


Gentlemen  of  the  American  Federatioii  of  Labor: 

Having  devoted  the  larger  part  of  my  life 
to  the  military  and  civil  service  of  our  country 
in  the  special  interest  of  the  masses  of  our  peo- 
ple, as  I have  understood  that  interest,  it  is 
with  unfeigned  gratification  that  I respond  to 
the  cordial  invitation  of  my  long  time  friend 
and  co-laborer  in  the  same  cause,  the  President 
of  this  great  Convention,  a Convention  which 
represents  the  rights  and  hopes  of  the  masses  of 
men  as  truly  as  did  our  fathers  when  they  pro- 
claimed the  immortal  declaration  from  this 
very  hall  to  the  listening  world,  to  read  to  you 
a brief  paper  upon  the  origin,  character  and 
object  of  what  has  come  to  be  known  in  the 
current  history  of  the  country  as  the  “Blair 
Education  Bill.” 

I may  be  pardoned  for  introducing  here  the 
correspondence  which  has  brought  me  before 
you  on  this  occasion  : 

“American  Federation  of  Labor, 
New  York,  Nov.  25,  1892. 

Hon . Henry  W.  Blair : 

My  Dear  Sir — By  a reference  to  the  enclosed 
circular  you  will  note,  that  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  will  hold  its  Twelfth  Annual 
Convention  at  Independence  Hall,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  December  12-17. 

Our  organization,  so  widely  distributed 
throughout  the  country,  is  deeply  interested 
in  all  questions  tending  to  improve  the  mate- 
rial and  moral  conditions  of  our  people,  and 
recognizing  in  you  one  of  those  staunch  and 
true  men  who  have  ever  been  ready  with  voice 
and  pen  to  aid  in  that  task,  I hereby  invite 
you  to  read  a paper  at  our  Convention  on  the 
third  day  of  its  session,  namely,  December  14. 

You  are  aware  that  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  at  several  of  its  Conventions  has 
endorsed  the  ‘Educational  Bill’  you  had  the 
honor  of  introducing  in  the  United  States 
Senate.  I would  therefore  suggest  that  your 
paper  be  upon  that  subject. 


I sincerely  hope  that  you  will  accept  the 
invitation  and  that  you  will  notify  me  thereof. 

Permit  me  to  take  this  opportunity  of  con- 
gratulating you  upon  your  election  to  Con- 
gress, under  the  circumstances.  With  such 
an  enormous  adverse  majority  in  the  district, 
and  in  view  of  the  almost  tidal  wave  of  votes 
in  the  opposite  direction,  your  triumph  is  a 
compliment  of  the  highest  order,  a vindication 
and  an  answer  to  the  tirade  of  abuse  heaped 
upon  you  by  a malicious  or  ignorant  press. 

Yery  truly  yours, 

Samuee  Gompers, 

President  American  Federation  of  Labor.” 


“Manchester,  N.  H.,  Nov.  29,  1892. 

My  Dear  Sir — Your  cordial  letter  of  con- 
gratulation upon  my  recent  election  to  the 
National  House  of  Representatives  is  received, 
and  for  it  and  for  your  letter  given  to  the  pub- 
lic in  my  behalf  during  the  canvass,  please  ac- 
cept my  sincere  thanks. 

Our  acquaintance,  I trust  that  you  will  per- 
mit me  to  say  our  friendship  rather,  has  been 
constant  during  the  considerable  period  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  investigation  by  the  Sen- 
ate Committee  on  Education  and  Labor  of  the 
relations  between  labor  and  capital  in  1883, 
and  through  all  these  years  of  misrepresenta- 
tion and  abuse  which  have  pursued  me,  and 
will,  no  doubt,  until  I die,  in  consequence 
mainly  of  the  part  which  it  was  my  duty  to 
take  as  chairman  of  the  committee  in  compel- 
ling a fair  hearing  for  the  voice  of  labor  before 
the  committee  and  by  the  country  against  the 
opposition  of  hostile  interests,  you  have  not 
failed  in  manifestations  of  sympathy,  appre- 
ciation and  support. 

It  is  now  seen  and  admitted  that  this  inves- 
tigation was  the  breaking  up  plow  which  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  great  results  already  re- 
alized and  for  the  magnificent  harvests* yet  to 
be. 

Industrial  and  social  problems  are  now  at 


3 


'S>Sfl5a. 


\ 


the  forefront  of  American  politics,  where  they 
belong,  and  they  can  never  be  displaced  until 
they  are  solved  and  settled,  and  they  cannot 
be  settled  until  they  are  settled  right.  What- 
ever is  at  the  front  in  the  politics  of  America 
must  soon  take  the  same  place  in  the  politics 
of  the  world. 

Ideas  which  were  “cranky”  then  are  com- 
monplace now,  and  we  are  gratified  to  see 
great  editors  and  wise  statesmen  advocating 
measures  which  then  excited  only  their  pro- 
found contempt.  It  is  the  way  of  the  world, 
however,  and  there  will  never  be  a different 
way  until  there  is  a different  world.  So  let 
us  try  to  accomplish  a little  more  good  in  the 
world,  if  we  are  laughed  at  and  ridiculed,  and 
even  lied  about  for  our  pains  by  wise  men 
who  don’t  know  any  better. 

Your  kind  invitation  to  read  a short  article 
before  the  Federation  of  Eabor  on  the  14th  of 
December  at  Philadelphia  upon  the  ‘ Education 
Bill  ’ will  be  complied  with  if  I can  possibly 
find  time  for  its  preparation.  Thanking  you 
once  more,  I am  truly  yours, 

Henry  W Brair. 


To  Samuel  Gompers , President  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  P 


Evolution  may  develop  protoplasm  into  man, 
but  it  is  education,  the  development  of  the  in- 
dividual soul,  which  makes  the  difference  be- 
tween the  savage  and  the  sage,  and  so  between 
barbarism  and  civilization.  And  when  human 
beings  aspire  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness  and 
to  preserve  their  liberties  by  self-government, 
they  find  that  capacity  for  enjoyment  and 
ability  to  control  themselves  and  society  de- 
pend upon  that  power  which  comes  from 
knowledge  alone. 

Human  happiness  is  founded  upon  knowl- 
edge. Action  is  the  result  of  impulse  or  be- 
lief, and  without  knowledge  the  former  is 
mere  brute  force  and  the  latter  is  nothing  but 
superstition.  Without  knowledge  popular 
government  is  but  anarchy,  and  despotism  is 
the  only  hope  of  an  ignorant  people.  This 
country  has  never  been  a free  country  except 
so  far  as  the  people  have  known  enough  to 
achieve  liberty  and  to  preserve  it.  Ignorance 
•^^slavery  and  slavery  is  ignorance.  These 
terms  are  convertible  and  each  is  only  a differ- 
ent name  for  the  other.  Sometimes  slavery  is 
written  into  the  constitutions  and  laws  of  a 
country  and  sometimes  it  is  not,  but  it  matters 
^little  whether  an  ignorant  man  is  a slave  by 
Lthe  statutes  of  his- country.  Slavery  is  a con- 
dition and  it  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  weakness 
—"that  is  in  ignorance,  for  as  knowledge  is 
empower  so  ignorance  is  impotence.  Ignorant 
men  are  incapable  of  organization. 

Intelligent  men  only  can  combine  and 
union  is  strength.  Organized  labor  can  be- 


come so  and  can  remain  so  only  by  being  in- 
telligent  and  continuing  to  be  intelligent. 

There  is  to-day  in  this  country  and  in  the 
world  just  so  much  of  slavery  as  there  is  of 
ignorance — no  more,  no  less.  So  it  always 
will  be  among  the  masses  of  men  and  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth.  I have  always  believed 
that  our  common  school  system  is  the  repub- 
lic. We  have  and  we  can  have  no  other  all 
pervading  institution  which  can  reach  the 
American  child  and  transform  him  into  an  in- 
telligent— that  is  to  say,  into  a free  man. 
Private  and  denominational  schools  may  per- 
form a partial  work  and  perform  it  well,  but 
nothing  will  shed  universal  sunshine  save  only 
the  public  school,  which  can  enlighten  the 
head  and  warm  the  heart  of  every  growing 
citizen  of  our  land. 

But  the  necessary  and  legitimate  work  of 
the  public  school  has  never  yet  been  fully  nor 
even  well  performed  in  the  country  as  a 
whole;  and  there  is  still  a vast  degree  of  slav- 
ery among  the  people  both  North  and  South. 

Before  the  Civil  War  there  was  no  system, 
nor  even  any  general  desire  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  the  masses  of  either  race  in 
that  part  of  the  country  where  the  negro  was 
enslaved  by  written  laws.  On  the  contrary  it 
was  plainly  perceived  that  those  who  had  the 
power  to  enslave  others  must  keep  all  but 
their  own  class  in  ignorance  or  that  universal 
knowledge  would  produce  universal  sovereign- 
ity and  dissolve  their  aristocracy  in  the  great 
ocean  of  homogeneous  democracy. 

So  ignorance,  that  is  to  say  slavery,  was  the 
general  condition  in  the  Southern  part  of  the 
country. 

In  the  North  the  contrary  spirit  was 
stronger.  The  masses  knew  more  and  were 
correspondingly  more  free. 

The  effort  to  extend  the  condition  of  ignor- 
ance and  slavery  into  the  territories  was  made 
necessary  by  the  nature  of  things,  for  an  aris- 
tocracy is  built  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
few  and  the  ignorance  of  the  many,  and  if  in- 
telligence and  consequent  freedom  should 
dominate  the  territories,  when  they  became 
States  in  the  union,  and  were  combined  with 
the  old  relatively  free  states,  schools  and  edu- 
cation would  everywhere  abound  and  in  the 
end,  light  and  liberty  would  fill  the  whole  land 
and  all  would  be  free  because  all  would  have 
the  power  which  is  in  knowledge  to  seize  and 
maintain  their  rights. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  ignorant  labor  is 
always  cheap  labor,  and  an  aristocracy,  which 
is  nothing  but  a great  monopoly  of  the  rights 
of  the  masses  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  can 
never  steal  the  production  of  the  people’s  toil 
through  the  agency  of  low  wages  and  cheap 
prices  of  commodities  into  which  that  toil  is 
converted,  when  the  people  know  enough  to 
prevent  it  by  making  and  administering  the 


laws  in  their  own  interest  and  for  the  general 
good. 

It  was  more  and  more  apparent  as  the  years 
of  reconstruction,  so  called,  passed  away,  and 
is  now  more  apparent  than  ever  to  close  and 
patriotic  observers,  that  slavery  was  only 
nominally  abolished  by  the  war  and  that 
nothing  could  make  the  people,  white  and  col- 
ored at  the  South  free  indeed,  and  remove  the 
evils  of  ignorance  at  the  North  and  throughout 
the  whole  country,  but  a national  effort  to 
spread  and  invigorate  the  common  school. 

Systems  theoretically  good  had  been  es- 
tablished in  every  State,  but  they  were, 
throughout  the  South  especially,  systems 
only,  without  vitality,  and  requiring  that  in- 
fusion of  energy  which  money  and  enthusiasm 
alone  could  impart. 

But  the  Southern  States  seemed  to,  be 
wholly  under  the  control  of  the  Ante  bellum 
power,  and  the  general  destruction  of  values 
and  the  disorganization  resulting  from  the 
war  made  it  hard  to  develop  an  institution 
which  was  seen  to  be  a real  proclamation  of 
emancipation,  which  included  in  its  beneficent 
terms  both  races  and  which  eradicated  slavery 
and  aristocracy  and  cheap  prices  and  low 
wages  altogether,  and  distributed  wealth  and 
power  and  liberty  among  the  whole  people, 
where  they  belong. 

It  was  also  found  that  the  common  school, 
as  an  institution,  was  deteriorating  at  the 
North.  Alas  ! it  is  still  deteriorating,  as  wit- 
ness the  reports  of  Superintendent  Draper  of 
the  great  State  of  New  York,  and  the  revela- 
tions of  the  census  of  1890. 

It  was  found  that  labor  at  the  South  was 
not  accumulating  wealth  as  a result  of  nominal 
freedom.  The  old  master  class  still  owned 
the  land  and  made  the  laws,  and  therefore 
really  owned  all  who  labored  on  the  land  and 
were  subject  to  the  laws.  The  suffrage  while 
nominally  universal  was  really  to  the  people 
at  large,  only  a mass  of  fuss  and  feathers,  or 
worse,  and  the  power  was  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  intelligent  few  who  wielded  it,  as  power 
is  always  wielded,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
have  it. 

Considering  the  burdens  of  which  the  land 
owners  and  masters  were  relieved  the  negro 
continued  to  work  as  cheaply  as  when  in 
slavery — as  a rule,  that  is  for  his  board  and 
clothes,  and  that  care  which  preserved  him  in 
the  condition  of  a good  working  animal;  and 
the  white  laborer  at  his  side  must  work  at  the 
same  pay  or  lose  the  employment,  without 
which  he  coul  d not  live. 

Intelligent  Northern  labor  also  saw  that 
unless  this  system  of  cheap,  because  ignorant, 
labor  at  the  South  could  be  broken  up  that  it 
would  be  just  as  well  to  compete  directly  with 
the  cheap  labor  of  Europe  as  with  that  of  the 
Southern  States,  and  that  protection,  which 


could  come  only  by  educating  the  Southern 
laboring  man  until  he  knew  how  to  demand 
and  obtain  just  compensation,  was  indispens- 
able to  the  salvation  of  the  higher  wages  and 
corresponding  civilization  of  the  North.  Re- 
duced to  the  same  hours  and  other  conditions 
it  was  seen,  and  is  still  seen,  that  agricultural, 
mechanical  and  operative  labor  in  the  South- 
ern States  produces  at  little  more  than  half 
the  cost  to  the  owner  of  the  product  which 
the  same  product  costs  at  the  North.  Capital, 
quick  to  see  and  embrace  the  opportunity  to 
locate  where  labor  was  cheap  and  raw  ma- 
terial on  the  spot,  and  where  free  trade  be- 
tween the  States  gives  unfettered  intercourse, 
was  hurrying,  as  it  still  is,  to  take  advantage 
of  the  same  conditions  which  would  exist  if 
our  tariffs  with  foreign  countries  were  all  re- 
pealed. 

The  census  of  1880  revealed  in  cold  figures 
a startling  condition  of  ignorance  and  insuffi- 
ciency of  teachers,  school  houses  and  appli- 
ance for  the  education  of  children,  especially 
in  the  Southern  States. 

By  that  census  it  appeared  that  there  were 
sixteen  millions  of  children  in  the  country  of 
school  age,  of  whom  six  millions  were  not  en- 
rolled, that  is  to  say,  did  not  attend  school 
at  all. 

Out  of  the  whole  sixteen  millions  there  was 
an  average  daily  attendance  during  the  school 
terms  of  less  than  six  millions.  Many  of  the 
school  terms  would  not  be  more  than  two  or 
three  months  for  the  entire  year.  Not  over 
six  hundred  thousand  were  enrolled  in  private 
schools. 

Out  of  a total  population  of  fifty  millions, 
more  than  five  millions,  over  ten  years  of  age, 
could  not  read,  and  more  than  six  and  one- 
fourth  millions  could  not  write. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  this  test  is  a 
very  low  one,  and  that  probably  more  than 
ten  millions  of  our  people  over  ten  years  of 
age,  were  and  still  are  not  sufficiently  edu- 
cated to  enable  them  to  learn  and  discharge 
intelligently  the  duties  of  citizenship.  Two 
millions  of  legal  voters,  or  about  one  in  five, 
could  not  read  and  write,  of  whom  nine  hun- 
dred thousand  were  white  voters  and  eleven 
hundred  thousand  were  colored.  Not  less  than 
four  out  often  millions  of  voters  were  so  imper- 
fectly educated  that  they  could  not  read  the 
common  newspapers  of  the  day  intelligently. 

For  all  practical  purposes  two-fifths  of  the 
legal  voters  could  not  read  intelligently  and 
one-fifth  could  not  read  at  all. 

The  Northern  States  had  about  two-thirds 
of  the  population  and  one-third  of  the  illiter- 
acy; four-fifths  of  the  taxable  property,  and 
the  South  one-fifth.  The  colored  people  were 
about  one-third  the  Southern  population,  and 
the  whites  owned  more  than  nine-tenths  of 
the  property.  The  Southern  white  owned 


5 


^ about  one-fourth  the  amount  of  taxable  prop- 
erty that  is  owned  by  the  citizens  of  the 
North,  and  has  at  least  four  times  the  burden 
to  bear  in  order  to  give  as  good  education  to 
the  children  of  the  South  as  is  obtained  by  the 
children  of  the  North.  Less  than  one-sixth 
of  the  money  expended  to  support  public 
schools  in  the  country  was  expended  in  the 
South,  where  one-third  of  the  children  reside, 
and  much  of  the  instruction  given  was  of  in- 
ferior quality. 

In  some  of  the  cities  there  were  good  schools 
for  a part  of  the  children,  but  four-fifths  of  them 
them  live  in  the  country,  while  even  in  the  most 
most  favored  cities  there  were  great  numbers  of 
children  for  whom  no  provision  at  all  was  made. 

A striking  fact  was  and  is  that  greater  desti- 
tution existed  among  the  children  of  the  poor 
white  people  than  among  the  colored  children, 
upon  whom  Northern  charity  was  almost 
wholly  concentrated.  It  is  surely  time  that 
the  sympathy  of  the  nation  be  aroused  for 
these  white  children,  for  if  they  be  not  edu- 
cated neither  race  can  rise. 

I learned  by  careful  investigation  that  more 
white  than  colored  children  were  suffering  for 
education  in  the  South. 

It  was  ascertained  by  actual  counting  of  the 
record  of  deeds  in  the  county  of  Winston,  Ala- 
bama, that  seven  out  of  every  ten  deeds  exe- 
cuted by  white  men,  and  nine  out  of  every  ten 
by  white  women,  were  signed  by  the  mark  or 
X of  the  grantor. 

In  his  inaugural  message  of  March,  1881, 
President  Garfield  said:  “The  danger  which 

arises  from  ignorance  in  the  voter  can  not  be 
denied.  It  is  a danger  which  lurks  and  hides 
in  the  fountains  of  power  in  every  State. 

“The  census  has  already  sounded  the  alarm 
in  the  appalling  figures  which  mark  how  dan- 
gerously high  the  tide  of  illiteracy  has  arisen 
among  our  voters  and  their  children.  The 
nation  itself  is  responsible  for  the  extension  of 
the  suffrage.  For  the  North  and  the  South 
alike  there  is  but  one  remedy.  All  the  con- 
stitutional power  of  the  nation  and  of  the  States, 
and  all  the  volunteer  forces  of  the  people  should 
be  summoned  to  meet  this  danger  by  the  sav- 
ing influence  of  universal  education.” 

The  great  problem  in  American  affairs,  and 
in  fact  in  the  affairs  of  mankind,  is  how  to 
educate,  mentally,  morally,  physically,  the 
children  of  the  country. 

In  the  first  Congress  of  which  I was  a mem- 
ber, the  44th,  in  the  year  1876,  I endeavored 
to  arouse  the  attention  of  the  people  by  an  ex- 
tended review  of  the  general  subject  and  an 
earnest  appeal  to  the  country  made  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  was  gener- 
ally circulated  among  the  people. 

This  speech  was  entitled  “Our  Free  Schools; 
Are  They  in  Danger?”  and  so  far  as  I know 
was  the  first  serious  effort  to  raise  the  ques- 


tion of  popular  education  in  the  National 
Congress,  and  to  meet  the  emergency  that 
was  and  still  is  upon  us  by  substantial  aid, 
when  it  was  necessary,  from  the  national 
power  to  be  exerted  through  and  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  public  school  systems  of  the 
States,  when  possible,  based  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  intelligence  to  the  general  welfare  of 
the  whole  country  and  especially  upon  the 
necessity  of  intelligence  in  the  voter  who  con- 
trols the  existence  and  destiny  of  the  nation 
as  well  as  that  of  the  States. 

When  I entered  the  Senate  in  1879  I re- 
solved to  devote  myself  to  this  subject  and 
the  kindred  one  of  industrial  and  social  de- 
velopment and  elevation,  until  something 
definite  should  be  accomplished. 

Various  suggestions  had  been  made  and 
bills  introduced  and  acted  upon  in  one  or  the 
other  House  of  Congress,  having  in  view  the 
establishment  of  a national  fund,  the  interest 
whereon  should  be  distributed  to  the  States, 
but  the  relief  proposed  was  not  appreciable 
in  view  of  the  extent  and  enormity  of  the  evil, 
and  nothing  further  was  done,  and  nothing 
further  was  proposed  until  the  introduction  of 
the  Original  Education  Bill  in  1881,  with 
which  my  name  has  since  then  been  associ- 
ated. I had  prepared  every  phrase  of  this 
bill  with  great  care. 

This  was  a proposition  to  extend  and  vital- 
ise the  common  school  system  by  the  appro- 
priation of  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions 
of  dollars,  to  be  distributed  to  the  States  in 
installments  during  the  next  ten  years  and  ex- 
pended through  the  existing  school  machinery 
of  the  States,  upon  conditions  which  should 
secure  the  faithful  application  of  the  public 
treasure  to  the  impartial  education  of  all  who 
should  attend  the  public  schools,  the  basis  of 
distribution  being  the  existing  necessity  as  in- 
dicated by  the  census  returns  of  illiteracy 
from  the  several  States. 

No  permanent  connection  of  the  National 
Government  with  the  support  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  States  was  thought  likely  to  be 
necessary.  It  was  believed  that  once  the 
benefits  of  education  being  diffused,  the  people 
of  every  localitv  would  forever  after  maintain 
them.  The  bill  was  therefore  properly  en- 
titled, “A  bill  to  aid  in  the  establishment  and 
temporary  support  of  common  schools.” 

The  States  were  to  decide  for  themselves 
whether  they  would  accept  or  reject  the  prof- 
fered aid, but  if  accepted  it  was  to  be  faithfully 
expended  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  children  of 
proper  age  who  should  desire  to  attend  the 
public  schools. 

The  masses  of  the  people  North  and  South 
comprehended  at  once  the  vast  significance 
and  saving  effect  of  this  bill. 

The  common  people  heard  it  gladly  and 
rallied  generally  to  its  support. 


6 


Probably  no  measure  ever  submitted  to  them 
has  received  such  universal  approval  from  the 
plain  people  of  our  country. 

During  the  remaining  ten  years  of  my  life 
in  the  Senate,  I did  all  that  I could,  and  you 
did  all  that  you  could  to  secure  the  enactment 
of  this  bill  into  law.  Three  times  it  passes 
the  Senate,  but  it  never  was  possible  Xo  secure 
its  consideration  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, except  by  Committees.  Upon  its  fourth 
and  last  consideration  by  the  Senate  in  the 
first  session  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  the 
bill  failed  to  pass  to  its  third  reading,  through 
the  unexpected  defection  of  two  of  its  supposed 
supporters  whose  votes  with  that  of  the  Vice- 
President  would  have  given  the  bill  its  third 
reading  and'  passage.  Thereupon  I changed 
my  vote  for  the  purpose  of  moving  a reconsider- 
ation in  the  hope  that  later  in  the  Session  a 
favorable  result  might  be  obtained,  but  the 
tariff,  and  federal  election  bills  intervened  and  it 
was  never  possible  again  to  bring  up  the  educa- 
tion bill.  The  Congress  expired  and  my  con- 
nection with  the  Senate  aFo  in  March,  1891, 
and  the  bill  has  so  far  failed  to  become  a law. 

Under  the  pressure  of  the  mighty  influences 
which  combat  and  seek  the  destruction  of  the 
common  school  system  in  this  country,  many 
public  men,  originally  for  the  bill,  forsook  it 
and  fled,  and  some  of  them  became  its  most 
bitter  opponents.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
press.  But  I trust  that  those  influences,  those 
men  and  the  press,  animated  by  an  elevated 
patriotism,  may  change.  The  sum  proposed 
to  be  distributed  by  the  measure,  when  last  it 
was  under  consideration,  was  $79,000,000, 
during  a period  of  eight  years,  an  average  of 
about  $10,000,000 — (one-half  the  River  and 
Harbor  bill) — annually,  of  which  about  two- 
thirds  would  have  gone  to  the  Southern  States 
where  at  present  not  more  than  $18,000,000  or 
$20,000,000  are  yearly  expended  among  one- 
third  of  the  children  of  the  country,  while  at 
least  $100,000,000  are  expended  at  the  North, 
or  two  and  one-half  times  as  much  for  each 
child  as  in  the  South. 

This  makes  no  allowances  for  the  necessary 
sum  for  school  houses,  for  which  an  immediate 
expenditure  of  $40,000,000  would  not  fully 
provide  and  furnish  suitable  houses  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  school  population  now 
unsupplied. 

The  annual  expenditure  of  the  country  for 
pensions  is  $165,000,000,  and  the  amount  is  in- 
creasing, more  than  twice  that  sum  proposed  to 
be  expended  by  the  education  bill  in  the  whole 
eight  years  of  its  contemplated  operation. 

During  the  same  period  $160,000,000  will 
be  spent  for  Rivers  and  Harbors,  or  twice  that 
proposed  for  removing  the  shoals  and  quick- 
sands arid  rocks  and  whirlpools  of  ignorance, 
and  the  bars  of  slavery,  from  the  waters  of  our 
national  life;  and  for  war  in  time  of  peace 
which  but  for  ignorance  of  the  people  would 


be  impossible  at  least  $500,000,000  will  be  ex-  \ 
pended  in  this  land  of  the  free  during  the  next 
two  National  Administrations. 

This  bill  would  have  elevated  the  masses  of 
the  people  of  the  South  to  the  conditions  which 
prevail  at  the  North;  would  have  removed  the 
competition  of  Southern  cheap  labor  which 
hurts  the  Northern  market  for  labor  and  pro- 
duction to  day  more  than  does  the  competition 
of  Europe;  by  increasing  the  purchasing  power 
of  her  own  people  would  have  created  at  the 
South  a great  market  for  her  increased  produc- 
tion without  injuring  ours;  and  thus  would 
have  blessed  the  North  and  South  alike,  and 
have  made  us  one  great  homogenous  Nation, 
wealth}^,  powerful  and  free. 

The  defeat  of  the  education  bill  was  not 
only  a calamity;  it  was  a crime — a crime 
against  humanity 

What  would  have  been  our  condition  now 
if  the  education  bill  had  been  passed,  even  if 
the  Force  bill  for  which  it  was  sacrificed  had 
failed,  as  it  did  fail;  notwithstanding?  There 
is  no  force  but  education,  and  no  Force  bill 
but  an  education  bill  which  can  save  the 
suffrage  and  the  civilization  of  this  country. 

But  I forbear  to  comment  upon  recent  his- 
tory further,  and  leave  those  who  defeated  the 
education  bill,  Republicans  and  Democrats, 
North  and  South,  to  their  own  reflections.  I 
am  guiltless  of  this  innocent  blood. 

We  must  deal  with  the  future,  but  let  us 
learn  wisdom  from  the  past  to  guide  our  way. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  it  is  better  that 
each  locality  should  take  care  of  itself,  and 
that  if  let  alone  it  will  do  so,  but  this  theory 
has  been  tried  and  under  it  have  been  de- 
veloped the  evil  conditions  which  we  have  seen. 

The  question  is  between  the  Nation,  the 
State  and  the  parent  on  one  side,  and  the  help- 
less child  on  the  other.  So  far  the  child  has 
gone  to  the  wall,  and  in  time,  when  he  be- 
comes the  parent,  the  State  and  the  Nation, 
his  child  inherits  the  hard  conditions  which 
gave  him  a poverty  stricken,  incompetent  and 
helpless  sire.  Only  those  who  have  can  give 
and  they  declined  to  give  when  the  education 
bill  failed. 

I will  trouble  you  longer  only  to  notice  the 
present  condition  of  education  in  the  country. 
The  tremendous  struggles  and  prolonged  dis- 
cussions which  have  characterized  the  twelve 
years  of  effort  to  secure  temporary  national 
aid  to  common  schools  have  greatly  aroused 
the  people  to  the  condition  of  popular  educa- 
tion, and  to  the  necessity  of  greater  exertions 
if  the  curse  of  general  ignorance  is  not  in  the 
end  to  overthrow  our  institutions  by  placing 
the  balances  of  power  in  the  hands  of  ignorant 
voters  who  shall  be  used  by  public  enemies  to 
control  elections  and  so  to  govern  the  coun- 
try. 

This  much  at  least  has  been  accomplished, 
and  perhaps  after  all  it  will  be  found  that  to 


7 


j ' 

v 

hAe  awakened  the  Nation  to  its  danger  was 
tjhe  only  necessary  thing.  The  people  will 
find  a way  to  save  themselves  when  the  danger 
is  pointed  out. 

But  we  are  told  that  schools  and  intelligence 
are  increasing.  So  also  is  popular  ignorance 
increasing,  and  ignorance,  in  this  country,  is 
increasing  faster  than  intelligence — certainly 
this  is  so  in  many  parts  of  our  land. 

The  New  York  Times  has  recently  shown  in 
an  elaborate  examination  of  the  census  returns, 
that  the  public  school  system  is  waning  at  the 
North. 

Mr.  George  W.  Cable,  in  an  article  publish- 
ed in  the  November  number  of  the  Cosmopoli- 
tan, has  explained  how  the  “Gentleman  gov- 
ernments” of  the  South  are  neglecting  the 
education  of  the  multiplying  youth  of  that 
great  section. 

True,  that  school  enrollments  are  increas- 
ing, but  this  country  grows  in  all  directions, 
and  ignorance  fully  holds  its  own. 

In  some  localities  the  appropriation  of  pub- 
lic funds  for  the  construction  of  school  houses 
is  prohibited. 

Mr.  Cable  observes  : ‘ ‘Much  is  to  be  heard 

of  a gradual  increase  in  the  yearly  outlays  for 
schools  in  the  South;  but  the  increase  in  pop- 
ulation which  it  scarcely  more  than  keeps  pace 
with,  goes  of  ten  unnoted.  In  the  four  States 
of  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and 
Louisiana,  in  the  school  year  ending  1 888,  and 
in  Florida  and  Alabama  in  1888-89,  the  high- 
est increase  in  the  years  school  outlay  per 
capita  of  total  school  population  was  six  and 
one-half  cents,  and  the  average  in  the  six 
States  four  cents.  At  this  rate  it  would  take 
them  just  seventy  years  to  reach  the  present 
per  capita  outlay  of  Iowa;  but  Iowa’s  increase 
per  capita  is  over  twice  as  large. 

Whether  we  look  at  school  laws  or  school 
statistics,  there  seems  to  be  no  escape  for  us 
from  the  conclusion  that  a gentleman’s  gov- 
ernment makes  for  the  free  school,  a rather 
poor  step  mother.”  * * * “It  suppresses  not 
illiteracy,  but  the  illiterate.”  But  I must  how- 
ever refer  you  to  the  article,  for  there  is  no 
time  to  quote. 

The  natural  attempt  is  made  to  varnish  the 
condition  of  those  sections  of  the  country  which 
most  need  it,  but  the  decay  and  deformity  and 
the  structural  weakness  are  there,  and  they  are 
in  the  North  and  West  as  well  as  in  the 
South. 

I have  said  that  I believe  that  the  education 
of  the  people  will  again  come  under  considera- 
tion in  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  that  I believe 
that  the  opposition  of  former  years  will  not  be 
repeated. 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  a source  of  the 
greatest  satisfaction  to  every  lover  of  his  country 
to  observe  the  recent  action  of  the  leading 
prelates  of  the  Catholic  church  in  the  United 
States,  understood  to  be  approved  and  prob- 


ably inspired  by  the  Pope  himself,  indicating 
the  withdrawal  of  opposition  to  the  public 
school  system  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  of 
that  great  organization. 

In  the  year  1886,  I had  correspondence  with 
Archbishop  Corrigan  upon  the  subject,  and  in 
a letter  dated  May  31st  of  the  year  expressed 
my  views  upon  the  school  question  in  a line 
which  will  show  how  free  from  bigotry  have 
been  my  utterances  in  the  past  in  regard  to  the 
well-known  opposition  made  by  a certain  ele- 
ment in  the  church  to  the  passage  of  the  school 
bill.  It  is  with  special  joy  that  I note  the  in- 
creasing liberality  of  the  church  toward  our 
free  school  system.  It  is  an  omen  of  good  to 
our  country  and  to  mankind. 

With  the  anticipated  acquiesence  and  prob- 
able co-operation  of  the  Catholic  power  in  this 
country,  the  friends  of  the  education  bill  may 
well  feel  assured  of  its  passage  in  the  near 
future. 

I look  upon  the  recent  authoritative  utter-* 
ance  of  the  Catholic  bishops  delivered  in  New 
York  as  a great  declaration  of  progress,  in- 
dicating the  ushering  in  of  a new  era  of 
religious  toleration  and  civil  freedom  in  this 
country — I had  almost  said  among  men. 

When  men  of  all  denominations  and  creeds 
and  men  of  no  denomination  or  creed  unite  in 
the  harmonious  support  of  one  great  universal 
comprehensive  system  of  education  for  all  the 
children  of  the  land,  the  time  is  not  ages  away 
when  intolerance,  bigotry,  ignorance  and 
superstition  will  disappear  in  the  pure  and  holy 
light  of  that  higher  physical,  moral,  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  development  of  human 
nature,  the  vision  of  which  inspired  the 
prophets  until  they  broke  forth  in  rapt  strains 
of  millenial  glory. 

I read  this  letter  as  a reply  to  some  criticism 
to  which  I have  myself  been  subjected,  but 
mainly  in  the  hope  that  its  contents  may  in- 
dicate how  free  the  terms  of  the  education 
bill  and  the  minds  of  its  supporters  have  al- 
ways been  from  any  tendency  to  narrow  sec- 
tarian or  partisan  ends: 

[copy.] 

United  States  Senate, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  May  3,  1886. 

My  Dear  Sir — I this  morning  had  the  honor 
to  receive  your  card  enclosed  to  me  by  mail 
from  New  York,  for  which  please  accept  my 
thanks,  and  at  the  same  time  excuse  the 
liberty  I take  by  forwarding  to  you  a speech 
recently  made  by  me  upon  the  measure  of 
temperance  reform,  which  seems  to  me  most 
radical  and  necessary  to  be  adopted  if  the  war- 
fare against  the  evil  of  alcohol  is  to  be  per- 
manently successful. 

The  great  ability  and  earnest  devotion  which 
you  have  consecrated  to  the  temperance  re- 
form, leads  me  to  hope  that  you  will  examine 
these  views  with  care  before  rejecting  them  or 


8 


3 


12  061941842 


denying  to  them  that  indispensible  support 
which  every  successful  national  movement 
must  receive  from  the  controlling  forces  of  the 
Catholic  church. 

I also  forward  to  you  with  more  misgivings 
but  from  a sense  of  duty  a copy  of  the  School 
Bill  lately  passed  by  the  Senate,  now.pending 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  together  with 
remarks  of  my  own  and  data  bearing  upon  this 
important  subject. 

The  bill  has  been  opposed  here  with  quiet 
but  vigorous  efforts  by  certain  leading  men 
and  influences  in  the  church,  for  which  I have 
great  personal  respect. 

While  it  is  no  part  of  my  duty  to  criticise 
the  conscientious  work  of  others  in  opposition 
to  this  all  important  measure  for  the  general 
good  of  all  churches  and  all  people  without 
distinction,  I cannot  ignore  the  fact  of  such 
opposition,  nor  avoid  the  expression  of  my 
deep  regret  that  it  exists. 

The  Catholic  church  in  modern  times  must 
depend  upon  the  increasing  intelligence  of  the 
people  for  that  increase  of  its  holy  influence 
and  beneficial  power  which  I believe  to  be  de- 
sired by  every  liberal,  thoughtful  and  patriotic 
American  citizen. 

But  the  common  school  is  the  cradle  of  our 
civil  institutions. 

No  power  but  the  state  can  reach  every  child 
and  to  oppose  general  common  school  educa- 
tion or  universal  provision  for  such  education 
is  to  strike  directly  at  the  existence  of  the 
Republic. 

The  parochial  school  can  never  reach  the 
people  at  large.  No  force  can  destroy  nor  in 
the  end  restrain  the  common  school.  The 
masses  of  the  Catholic  church  themselves  will 
never  permit  this  to  be  done. 

Let  the  church  advance  to  the  very  front  of 
the  free  and  liberal  tendencies  of  the  times  and 
by  her  immense  power  take  a leading  if  not 
the  leading  part  in  the  universal  establishment 
and  general  support  of  the  common  school  and 
thereby  permeate  that  institution  with  the 
proper  degree  of  moral  and  religious  training 
which  the  religious  element  of  society  can  so 
easily  supply  to  it. 

The  opposite  course  will  certainly  shake  if 
not  shatter  our  civil  institutions  and  will  in- 
evitably limit  the  growth  and  happy  influence 
of  that  great  and  venerable  organization,  to 
whose  spread  the  American  people  have  no  op- 
position, save  only  from  the  fear  that  it  will 
strike  down  their  free  schools.  I am  a Pro- 
testant by  birth  and  education,  but  I perceive 
and  acknowledge  the  immense  service  of  the 
mother  church  to  my  country  and  to  mankind. 
I would  die  as  promptly  to  secure  for  her  and 
her  most  humble  membership  absolute  religi- 
ous liberty  as  for  my  own  faith.  I write  this 
letter  in  the  earnest  hope  that  active  effort 
may  yet  be  made  to  assist  and  not  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  this  bill  proposing  temporary 


Federal  aid  to  common  schools.  It  is  impoJ 
sible  to  estimate  the  good  which  such  a stej 
authoritatively  taken  would  do  to  the  countij 
and  to  the  church.  How  would  the  hearts  J 
many  millions,  now  full  of  prejudice  and  oJ 
position  turn  warmly  and  trustfully  to  you 
communion  were  this  to  be  done.  I kno 
that  I speak  the  truth  when  I say  that  this,  I 
think,  mistaken  policy  of  opposition  to  frd 
schools  which,  if  continued,  will  some  timer! 
suit  in  serious  demonstrations,  is  the  on] 
thing  which  prevents  the  almost  universal  e: 
pansion  of  the  Catholic  church  in  thiscounti 

The  times  change  and  old  policies  must  pi 
away,  for  come  what  will,  every  child  mu; 
and  will  be  educated  in  the  free  public  scho< 

Let  the  church  do  and  shape  the  doing 
that  which  must  be  done,  either  with  or  wit] 
out  us  all. 

I greatly  fear  that  the  expression  of  the 
views  may  be  deemed  to  be  uncalled  for,  b| 
I shall  rely  upon  my  knowledge  of  your  hi{ 
personal  character  to  excuse  any  improprie] 
I may  have  committed,  either  in  thought 
expression,  by  attributing  it  to  a zeal  whic 
however  it  may  lack  for  knowledge,  has 
least  a worthy  motive  to  justify  it.  I feel  si 
that  a careful  perusal  of  the  bill  will  dem< 
strate  that  it  originated  in  no  hostility  to 
church  or  to  any  religious  denomination,  a] 
that  it  only  aims  to  secure  to  those  who 
without  any  schools  whatever,  either  publj 
private  or  parochial,  the  means  of  escape  fr< 
an  ignorance  which  no  earthly  agency  wot 
otherwise  remove. 

It  does  not  attack  a domain  already  occ 
pied  by  the  church  or  by  anyone  else, 
seeks  to  accomplish  a good  which  otherw| 
will  remain  undone. 

Should  an  examination  of  its  provisic 
fail  to  bear  out  the  truth  of  my  interpretatic 
I would  myself  be  the  first  to  suggest  tl 
modification.  With  profound  respect,  y< 
obedient  servant,  Henry  W.  Blair| 

Archbishop  Corrigan .” 


Yes,  the  instinct  of  self-preservation 
compel  the  American  nation  to  educate 
children  in  order  that  we  may  preserve 
liberties.  No  party  and  no  creed  can  surd 
a contest  with  the  public  schools.  I belij 
that  the  day  is  now  at  hand  when  those 
have  opposed  =-the  public  school  system 
see  a more  excellent  way.  A larger  char] 
a loftier  patriotism,  a more  comprehensive 
all-embracing  benevolence  is  filling  and  e: 
ing  the  souls  of  our  people,  and  beyond 
above  it  all  I behold  a sublime  religious  ui 
and  a political  equality,  fraternity  and  haj 
ness  of  which  the  world  has  hitherto  cone] 
ed  only  in  dreams. 

Gentlemen  of  the  American  Federatioi 
Labor,  behold  your  work  ! I appeal  to 
to  perform  it. 


